


SUN

by tricksterfox



Category: Kakumeiki Valvrave | Valvrave the Liberator
Genre: AU, M/M, Time Loop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-12
Updated: 2017-04-12
Packaged: 2018-10-18 03:51:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10608717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tricksterfox/pseuds/tricksterfox
Summary: There is laughter in the person’s voice, and he knows the eyes will be green before he even looks up – though he’s not quite sure why. Maybe the voice just sounds like green eyes.





	

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this for a friend's birthday a few years ago but i still like it a lot so here it is, for the public

 

**9**

Hot.

It’s so hot that he thinks the sun is frying up the world, that maybe it’s had enough of Earth and is finally having it for breakfast – it’s not a thought he normally has, but a sentiment that he has found stuck in his mind from god-knows-when. He thinks that he has heard it somewhere, sometime, in his childhood or a past life (he doesn’t believe in past lives, but somehow the thought creeps up anyway; the sun is a dangerous thing, isn’t it? His brain is boiling).

He shifts and fixes his glasses to escape the sunlight better, and puffs down at his bag, thinking that tomorrow he should try to avoid bringing all of these textbooks after all (an advice he feels foreign, somehow, and he also writes it off as a result of the heat).

He hears a bark, and something flies past him.

It’s…

“Uwaaaa, it’s way too hot! Let’s make this the last round in this neighborhood, 'kay? There aren’t even any cute girls in the park on such a day!”

The voice is filled with joyous energy, contrary to the words spoken, and he fixes his eyes on messy half-dyed hair and an arm that covers the owner’s face to wipe of sweat. The person squints to look in a certain direction, and he follows his gaze to the faraway back of a running dog.

This station is getting noisy.

He checks the board.

The bus should arrive in nine minutes, but that’s what the board said ten minutes ago when he arrived. He wonders if perhaps it wouldn’t cost him less time to just walk to the next stop. He hears something like a low rumble and looks down.

A dog. A medium sized, completely-oblivious-to-the-heat fluffy dog is staring up at him holding a Frisbee. He can’t help a smile and crouches to level with his new company’s big eyes.

“Oi, oi, you’re returning it to the wrong person, now! Sorry about that~.”

There is laughter in the person’s voice, and he knows the eyes will be green before he even looks up – though he’s not quite sure why. Maybe the voice just sounds like green eyes.

“If you’re waiting for the bus, they’ve changed the route. This whole area’s closed off. To be honest, you should probably get out of here soon. I saw the City Guard nearby.”

“I see.” How had he missed to check the schedule this morning? This was troublesome. He didn’t like changed plans, least of all unannounced.

“Bothersome?”

He sighs. “I suppose. If you’ll excuse me…” He pushes up his glasses, stands straight and fixes the bag on his shoulder.

“You gonna walk in this heat? It’s like a natural disaster out there!”

What other choice did he have, anyway? He ignores the comment. “Thank you for the information. Have a good day.”

There’s a small pause as he walks off in the direction of the next stop until he hears, “Always!”

He feels as if these words are strange.

** ∞ **

 

**1**

Huffing under the scorching sun, he examines the bus stop in the distance. He spots a hairy terror of barks and fluff running around the benches. The owner of the aforementioned enthusiastic tail carrier is sitting in the mild shadow of the shed that is oh-so poorly constructed for any event of a natural disaster of such a scale (although the sun, somehow, is not a ‘natural disaster’ – he has no idea where the thought had come from, but he lets it slide for now).

He pulls at his bag and approaches slowly, reaching the unsatisfactory shade at last, and checks the board.

The number for the estimated waiting time is showing one minute.

“It’s not coming.”

He turns to his laughing future-maybe-co-passenger.

“Excuse me?”

“The bus, the bus, it won’t come through here. They’ve closed off the whole area. Really, you should check the news before you leave home in the morning!”

He wants to say that this isn’t something that this stranger should be telling him – he really doesn’t seem like the responsible type, those earrings, with that hair, and the toothy smile, and besides, isn’t he waiting here as well?

“Thank you,” he grits through teeth, and looks at his watch. At this pace, he really wouldn’t get to the runway before three… and if he misses the IDEAL exams…

“They should update that board~!” the young man says, laughing green eyes staring up at the number ‘1’. “It’s been stuck on one minute since this afternoon. You’d think that with barcodes and moon clocks they could update an old era board, huh?”

“Surely, you have not been waiting that long.”

“Only 'till I thought to check the routes on the net.”

“Anyone could have deduced that the bus might not come.”

“I had time. I was waiting for something else, anyway.”

He decides he doesn’t care, adjusts the bag strap, and walks along.

“You should try carrying less books tomorrow! It’s gonna be even hotter!”

He doesn’t answer, but he looks down at his messenger bag and marks off the contents in his mind with mild irritation.

He _needs_ all of those.

** ∞ **

 

**RE:9**

He can barely believe that the scorching sun from before could turn into such a storm in only an hour and a half – and now he’s stuck. Of course, scientifically, when it’s most stuffy and hot, there’s bound to be rain not far behind. But right now he can’t think of science.

The number ‘9’ is stuck on the board shamelessly, and he can’t help but wonder if this is all a big joke played by the universe.

“The bus isn’t coming this way!”

He looks up at green eyes and the increasing number of earrings, and an umbrella that covers the sky. It’s blue, and white, and red, and purple, and too big for just one person. It looks more like something that would be used for camping trips, or beach shelters.

“I figured.”

“You should’ve just walked home! Smart people should think more!”

“You’re _late_.” The words are out before he can process them.

His recent companion closes his umbrella and moves to slump down next to him.

“Ahh, you remembered.”

He fixes his glasses and sniffs as a chill wind blows frozen drops into his face. “ _An hour and nineteen minutes_.”

“Yeah, I was really late this time! Sorry, sorry~! Why’d you wait?”

“I had no umbrella.”

“You’re such a bad liar, X!”

“The City Guard is close by. You should hurry.”

“You think it’ll turn into a hurricane?”

“Hurry on.”

“That would be a real natural disaster, if it did!”

It would, wouldn’t it.

“Hano, _go_.”

“ Thanks for the info!”

** ∞ **

 

**RE:RE:9**

The person has barely settled himself on a bench when X opens his mouth

“The bus will not be coming today.”

“Whoa, that was a quick warning!” he laughs, and shades his eyes with his hand looking at the board. “ ‘Re you sure, though? It shows nine whole minutes.”

“The area has been closed off,” he answers, flipping through his assignment for the day. “They’ve changed the route. I checked this morning. A person without a Barcode has been detected in the area.”

“Why’re you here, then~? Won’t they question you?”

“This is on my way home; I can prove it. And my practice is close by.”

The young man grins. “Taking a break, huh? Not afraid of scary outlaws?”

The stranger leans forward so his hands drop between his legs and nearly touch the ground. A dog that X can swear is smiling settles next to its owner.

The stranger’s neck is exposed. X tries not to let his eyes linger.

“Baaah, the sun’s really frying up the world today, isn’t it? Maybe it’s having us for breakfast! A true natural disaster!”

X’s head snaps up to look at his temporary companion, and he stares for a while before he answers, “The sun cannot be a natural disaster.”

He feels as if it’s something he should have said ages ago.

“Eh? How come? If it kills tens of thousands of people, it’ll be a natural disaster!”

“Natural disaster is a term that refers to all natural processes of the Earth,” he replies, looking down at his notes. “The sun, albeit taking large part in the cycles that help life here on the planet, is not actually part of it. It would be a disaster, but not natural.”

“More of a cosmic disaster?”

He almost feels the grin in the voice.

“That would make it sound as if the rest of the galaxy is involved.”

“Let me tell you something, if this planet catches fire, I feel like it won’t be the only thing affected in the solar system.”

“A solar disaster.” He shuts his book and drops it in his bag, glad that he’d decided to lighten the load this time. “That would be the best name for an event in which the sun is responsible for millions of deaths.”

“You’re a really smart guy, aren’t you?”

He wouldn’t say that. But he wouldn’t deny it, either. So he says nothing.

“How many books could you _possibly_ have in there?”

“As many as I need.” He exchanges his notes for a large book and pulls out a pen. The heat is causing sweat to trickle down his neck and stick his shirt to his back, but he has decided to review his notes as he usually did while waiting for the bus (that today would not come) and he was going to be damned if he doesn’t do as planned. The day has gone through enough changes for him.

“You studying for an exam, or what?”

“Something like that.”

His temporary companion offers water, and asks if the City Guard has been around.

He accepts the water, and answers that he has not seen them yet.

The young man tells him to be careful before dashing off with his fuzzy companion.

** ∞ **

 

**RE:1**

There’s a dog, and there’s a stranger, and the sun, and clouds gathering at the edge of the sky, and he’s annoyed. He’s annoyed.

But he doesn’t leave.

He knows he won’t get any peace and quiet at the runway, with the noise of the IDEAL models ringing in his ears and the mumbling of other students cramming for the exam.

He has to stay here.

But does this person have to talk, too?

“Do you think there’s a certain way to know that you’ve made the wrong choices?”

His eyebrow moves, and he looks at the Barcodeless wonder with the dual colored hair, the dog and the rainbow colored earrings.

“Should you not be on the run?”

“I’ve got time. So about my question… You think there’s a way?”

So he isn’t leaving… “Inevitably, you will find out.”

He leans back with his eyes closed and his hands in his pockets, until his back rests against the glass wall of the station. “Yeah, but like, what if you could find out right away? What if you make a decision, and decide to stick to it, and then the next day you wake up and it’s the same day?”

“That is impossible. Time cannot repeat.” X feels irritated. Something is really bothersome. And in the first place, shouldn’t he call the authorities? If this is the man everyone is after…

“Wouldn’t it be neat, though? Repeating the same day over and over until you make the right choice and can move on.”

Green eyes look into his, and he struggles not to look away. It’s almost like a _contest._

“As I said, it is not possible. However, hypothetically,” He clenches his teeth, “I would find it frustrating. Incredibly annoying.”

“So you think it’s better to move on and figure out you’ve made a mistake when it’s too late to fix it?” His companion’s tone of voice is strangely serious, and he has to think of his answer better.

He can’t wrap his mind around it. “Such a thing only happens in the science fiction novels from the Old Age. No matter how advance we’ve become since the Fall, time wrap and time travel are _not possible_.”

“You’re terrifyingly smart and even more horrifyingly logical, X.”

What? How does he…?

Come to think of this, this guy does look familiar…

“Oh, man, that look on your face…” the Barcodeless miracle laughs. “We know each other! Don’t you remember? We met before the Fall! We stayed in that abandoned Mall for like… a week then too, no?”

“My memories of events prior the Fall are… fuzzy,” X mumbles, looking away this time. Fuzzy was an understatement. He barely even remembered in which area of the city he had been.

“No, seriously, you don’t remember? We came up with like… codenames! And then that Agency found us, and you moved up to the Super Smart Class while I was left dragging rubble at the tender age of fifteen…” the dramatic undertone in his voice leaves X doubting that this is really true.

Also leaves him anxious.

“The City Guard is near,” says his companion. “I’d better get going or I’ll get you in trouble. Thanks for the chat, X! And ace that exam!”

How does he know a thing like that?

~~** ∞ ** ~~

**RE:RE:1**

He observes the rain thoughtfully, cleaning his glasses with a spare handkerchief before replacing them back on his nose.

It’s way too cold for the clothes that he’s wearing, but he won’t leave. Not until the nine on the board changes to a zero.

He’ll miss his exam, but he knows that it doesn’t matter. He’ll be moved to the repeating course. Or not. It doesn’t matter.

He hears running footsteps and looks up to see green eyes and an umbrella in almost rainbow colors.

“The bus isn’t coming, if that is why you are in a hurry.”

“You should’ve just walked home!”

He knows precisely what he’s saying. He’d known since he’d seen the news this morning. Since those green eyes had looked at him from the screen in his kitchen. “You’re _late_.”

His recent companion closes his umbrella and moves to slump down next to him.

“Ahh, you remembered again.”

He fixes his glasses and sniffs as a chill wind blows frozen drops into his face. “ _An hour and thirty six minutes_. I cannot believe that I waited for you.”

“Eh! That’s mean, X! Once I waited for you for two hours once because of your stupid overtime lectures! On _your_ turn!”

“Who made you?”

“But that was our arrangement!”

“It was your stupid idea, H-no.”

He ruffles his hair and leans back on the glass wall. “You _know_ what happens when the City Guard catches you waiting here. I wanted to warn you. And aren’t you late for your exam or something?”

“You should come along. I still have time to get to the runway. You can hide there.”

“No way, I’ll get you in trouble!”

“Your lack of a Barcode does not help you move around.”

The look of his friend is skeptic. How many times has he seen this look? Not once, probably. He has never offered such a thing in the past.

“I’ll think of something else, X. Don’t worry.”

“You… don’t have to protect me every time. Especially if it is a secret. Stop doing it.”

The words are heavy from his mouth, but he feels a sense of relief when they’re out there. As if it’s something he should have said worlds ago. Somewhere else, in a room swimming in fluorescent lights, before he drowns in bubbles and scraps of metal.

…Why does that strange dream come to mind now?

“Let’s hurry out of here, H-neun.”

The green eyed wonder with the dual colored hair and the earrings that would have meant nothing to everyone else, his bare neck and covered wrists, gives him a strange look.

And then he grins, and it’s as if the sun has split the skies open.

“Been waiting fourteen thousand lifetimes to hear you say that.”

 

 

When he wakes up the next day, the date is August 4th.

 

 

 

 


End file.
